Fastener



M. J. FORD Nov. 1, 1932.

FASTENER Filed Nov. 4, 1931 Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES MAIJCOLM J. FORID'QOE' BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNQR TOALMA MANUFAGTURING= GOM1EANY, OF BALTIMORE,,MABIYLANDL;AZ'GORBQRATION 0F MARYLAND- FASTENER Application filed November 4; 19.3 1: Serial-No; 572,953:

' Snap fasteners or ball and socket fasteners, as they are sometimes termed, OOIlSlSlT of a socket or female member secured to one slde or end or edge of the articleto be fastened and a ball or male member secured to the other edge or end' of the member or members to be connected, closed or fastened.

The socket or female member-of the snap fasteneror ball and socket fastener consists of a top which is-located on the top or outside of thematerial or supporting structure to which the fastener is being secured and "a tubular socket member which has a flange adapted to engage the other side of the mate rial, thetubular member of the socket being forced into the top and having its edge rolled or turned over outwardly and downwardly, clinching it to complete the fastening wherebythe tubular member and the top are held together and secured to-the materialor supporting structure intheir assembled relation.

In the construction of the device in this invention, a snap fastening socket installation is obtained iii-two parts, the top member and the't'ubular socket member, each consist-- ing of asinglepiece and are combined in attaching the snap fastening socket to the material or supporting structure.

An advantage of the improved construction is that itis more nearly foolproof in that with the old type offastener when the top' andsocket member or flanged tubular member are combinedto completethe female member or socket and attach it to the cloth,

the tubular member frequently assumes a' cant, i. e-.,it goes awry, making the attachment ofthe fastener to the cloth defective and more or loss 'ineifective, anddestroying the appearance of the product with which the fastener is being assembled. VVi'ththe improved form, on theother hand, it is impos sible for the fiangeditubularmember or socketj member to get out of alignment as the parts constructed in accordance with the improve ment include aguide or centering feature whereby the top and the tubular member are caused toassume the proper alignment in every instance when combined and attached: to the clothso that proper centering-and attachment is practically unfailing, and the parts: always center themselves and attach withthe'proper. alignment..' It isalso.of-imiportancexthat: the top or cap andzthestubular socket; member combine to. produce 1 a. shearingi'action: onthe clothcuttingiout' a sufiicient: area as the parts are assembled; to: provide:

for the attachment and operation 0f the socket without punching;

' It is furtherof interest thatithe: inturned; portion-of the top member; is slotted; radially andhence fluted: about'theedges-sof the apertures which: not only assists in the clinching of: the members. in; combiningthem, but by meansof the, serrated surface which. it pre-- sents: to; the material; it addslt'othe security with which the fastener is attached. to; the. material and contributes to the: ease and 0.011:- v enience of, assembling,

' a In; the accompanying drawing 1 have illustrated a1 snap fastening socket, embody.-

ing'thefeatures of the invention in thepreferredL form.

' In the drawing:

' Figure: 1; is avertical centralsection on the axis of the fastener assembled andattached to; the inaterial ito be; fastened.

Figure 2: is a bottom, plan of. the top or shell prior to attachment and; assembling with the tubular: flanged member: or socket member.

Figure. 32 is a vertical section through the axis of a tubular socket member prior to assembling. v

F igureAE is a: bottom plan: ofthe same. Referring to the drawing by' numerals,

each, of which is. used: to indicate the same or" similar-parts'in the diiferent' figures, the

illustration relates particularly to the female member of the ball and" socket or snap fastener,the -other half of the fastenenbeing of any preferred form ini accordance with the previous practice; This portion; of the fastening consists of a top; 1 and a tubular flanged? member 2', otherwise known as the tubular socket member in that when combined with the top in. the assembled condition of. the socket or: female member the tubular'portion 8 of this member 2,1 forms the peripheral wallsof the socket or openingt which containsthe ball 5 indicated fragmentarily and in dotted lines. The tubular portion 8 is somewhat expanded at l by the assembling or clinching operationasit may be termed, forming the concavity of the socket.

More specifically described, the top member 1 resembles to some extent'a shallow hat having a crownlike central portion 6 and a rim 7 which isbent downwardly at the edge and turned inwardly and-then upwardly as to the edge portion at 8. This latter is preferably fluted, or slotted, in a radial direc-, tion at 9 whereby the surplus material is removed and a serrated or; slotted area is;

. peripheral depending rib 11 whereby' the crown or central protuberance is; separated from the run 7 I This rim 7 as seen from below,F1gures 1 and 2, presents on 1ts outside an upwardly and. outwardly inclined peripheral surface 12 which is hereinafter described as haviu a deflectin and a downwardly rolling action upon the top edge 14;

of the tubular flanged'member 2 when the top member 1 and the: bottom' or tubular flanged'member 2'als0 referred toas the tubular socket member are" forced together-in their assembled relation to grip the material the downwardly deflected edge 1 L contacting the inwardly turned edge portion 8 of the top member to assist in the grinning of'the material between the inwardly turned edge portion 8 and the flanged bottom 16-of the tubular socket member.

This annular rib 11 is concentric with and spaced slightly inwardly from the circular.

aperture 15 formed by the turned over. edge 15 of the rim or flange 7. 1

The tubular member 2, as already pointed out, consists of a flange 16 and the upright tubular portion3 of the member 2. This tubular portion 3 is of a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the circle formed by the annular rib l1 and slightly less than the diameter of the circle formed by the edge 15 of theturnedover portion 8 of the rim 7,. in' combination' with which opening 15 the tubular member- 3 may be said to have a sliding fit or a relation ap-, preaching thesame so thatwhen the tubular portion-3 enters the opening 15, it'necessarily is centered with the rib 11 and encircles the same.- 1 Under these circumstances, the edge 14 comes in contact with the inclined surface 12 whereby the upperportion ofthe tubularmember 3 is deflected outwardly and and the turned over portion 8 of the-rim 7' on oppositesides of the material 22 to which the fastener is to be engaged, the same being preferably apertured at 23 for this purpose sothat the edge portions 24 of the material surrounding the aperture 23 are between the flange 16, and the turned over portion 8 which contains theslots 9.; As the riveting or clinching action, :is completed, this material isjtightly gripped betweenthese portions 16, and 8, and the socket on-female member-0f the fastener is securely engaged to the cloth or other material to ;befastened.

The advantage of this two piece socket assembly is that the cost of production compared with socket assemblies of equal strength and durability is greatly reduced. The ease and reliability of-the socket members to properly align themselves ,uponbeing assembled upon the material will reduce the possibilities of spoiling the material to which the socketis being attached due to improper assembling, this will alsovmean a saving on the socket members themselves. This assembling feature is of primary importance,-the tubular flanged socket member or portion 2 is guided in its relation to the 7 top 1 by the aperture 15 with which it may havea sliding fit, the rib 11 being spaced inwardly so that under anyvand all circumstancesthe edge 14 of the tubular member 3 comes in contact with the outer peripheral surface 12 of the rib whereby the edge 14; is uniformly curled and clinched and the canting of themembers relatively to each other with the resulting failure to properly engage and consequent inaccurate seating of the socket is avoided, the fastener being, in

fact, foolproof in that it doesnot require the services of skilled employees to assemble it and; attach it to thework in accordance with the practice. It is also of importance that the socket member combines with the onepiece top in such away as to accomplish amost effective shearing'action whereby ,an area of cloth corresponding tothediameter of the socket is cut out, by the attachment and assembling of the top and socket member and without any preliminary punching action. This is due to the relationof the guide flange 8 and the opening thereinand the location of the annular rib 11 and also to a condition which is .essential to the one just stated, i. e., the relation of the diameterrof. the socket member 2 to the annular ribj ll, the edge 14 ofthe socket member 11 being just sufliciently larger in diameter than the annular rib 11 to cause the two to cooperate to have a shearing action on the cloth as the two parts are assembled. This result.- is also dependent upon the fact that the flange 8 is substantially parallel to the pore tion 7 of the top 1, and immediately overlies the same so that the cutting edges 11 and 14- are immediately adjacent the plane of the cloth and can operate on it without any considerable deflection of the cloth into the top or cap member 1.

I have thus described specifically and in detail a snap fastening socket embodying the features of my invention in the preferred form in order that the manner of constructing, applying, operating and using the invention may be fully understood, however, the specific terms herein are used descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A snap fastening socket installation comprising a top member, a tubular socket member and a supporting structure, said top member being positioned at one side of said supporting structure and having an annular deflecting rib, the outer edge portion of said top member being turned,first downwardly inwardly and then upwardly toward the under surface of the top member the inturned portion of the top member being substantially parallel with the main portion of the top member, a plurality of slits formed in the inwardly and upwardly turned portion of the top member for the purpose of facilitating the bending of the outer edge of said top member and also to secure the top member more firmly to the supporting structure, said tubular member extending through an opening in said supporting structure and having a flanged bottom portion to engage the supporting structure upon the opposite side from the top member, the upper edge of said tubular socket being scalloped and flared outwardly, the tubular socket member being of a diameter to fit closely within the opening defined by the inturned slotted edge, the upper edge portion of the tubular socket member engaging the outer side of the annular 1 deflecting rib to deflect the edge portion of said tubular socket member outwardly and downwardly into contact with the inturned slotted portion of the top member to more securely bind the supporting structure be tween the flanged bottom of the tubular socket member and the inwardly turned portion of the top member.

2. A snap fastening socket installation comprising a top member, a tubular socket member and a supporting structure, said top member being positioned at one side of said supporting structure and having an annular deflecting rib, the outer edge portion of said top member being turned, first downwardly,

inwardly and then upwardly toward the unand an outwardly flared upper edge portion,

the tubular socketmember being of a diameter to fit closely within the opening defined by the inturned slotted edge, the upper edge portion of the tubular socket member engaging the outer side of the annular deflecting rib to deflect the edge portion of said tubular socket member outwardly and downwardly into contact with the inturned slotted portion of the top member to more securely bind the supporting structure between the flanged bottom of the tubular socket member and the inwardly turned portion of-the top member.

Signed by me at Baltimore, Maryland, this 30th day of October, 1931.

' MALCOLM J FORD.

ortion for 

